Medicinal Natural Products in Mexican Phytomedicines

摘要

Current research on medicinal plants in Mexico is mostly multidisciplinary and is aimed at classical ethnobotanical and anthropological investigation. It seeks to validate medicinal uses through pharmacological and biological studies, to search for bioactive compounds, and to a less extent to establish procedures for the assessment of quality control of herbal remedies, and to carry out clinical trials of phytodrugs. Thus, there is an urgent need for complementary studies on native medicinal plants in order to generate relevant information for quality assurance, safety, efficacy, conservation, and exploitation of these herbs. Although the potential of Mexican medicinal plants as a source for bioactive compounds remains largely unexplored, the results of our investigations on selected medicinal plants, as well as those of other researchers, clearly indicate that the Mexican medicinal flora shows potential for the discovery of new or known substances with valuable biological activities.